Microsoft Launching Family Xbox Live Plans

If this is old.. sue me. :P

What ya think ?

The Story.

----

Instead of forcing everyone in your family to pay for their own Xbox Live Gold subscription, Microsoft is going to start letting families spend $100 a year for up to four individual Gold accounts. This'll happen in November.

An Xbox LIVE Gold Family Pack includes:

• Up to four individual Xbox LIVE Gold memberships for the price of two – (US) $99.99.
• Family Center – a single, easy to use, destination for Family Settings and account management, accessible on the Xbox dashboard and on Xbox.com.
• The primary account member has the ability to purchase and dispense Microsoft Points to other Xbox LIVE Gold Family Pack members.
• Activity monitoring reports viewable on Xbox.com to help encourage discussions about safer more balanced gaming and entertainment habits.
• Simplified billing that applies all purchase charges to the primary account holder's billing account and the ability to authorize purchases, helping to manage the family's entertainment budget.
• Exclusive family content and discounts.

The industry-leading, built-in Xbox 360 Family Settings are also being taken to the next level this November. It's Microsoft's goal to provide parents and caregivers with tools and resources to manage their children's gaming and entertainment experiences, and these features are available to all Xbox LIVE members:

• Family Programming that removes all mature games, movies, and content from the dashboard, based on ESRB, Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) ratings and the TV Parental Guidelines system . Family Programming is password protected, and easy to turn on and off for each member. (Compatible with international ratings systems.)
• Title exceptions – the ability to allow your family members to play specific games above the console's designated ESRB rating if you deem appropriate. (Compatible with international ratings systems.)
• Intelligent default settings for child, teen, and adult profiles. Xbox will automatically assign default privacy and activity settings for each member that can later be individually customized.
• Family Settings are displayed prominently in the MyXbox channel. Current tools include the Family Timer, which allows you to control the amount of time - either daily or weekly - your children may use the console.

Diffenet link but same story. :P

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/64433

Doesn't sound much better.SaltyMeatballs

But hey I dunno, maybe they figure that will be the case when / if a bunch of families buy and use the Kinect thingamajig.

[QUOTE="SaltyMeatballs"]Doesn't sound much better.SecretPolice

But hey I dunno, maybe they figure that will be the case when / if a bunch of families buy and use the Kinect thingamajig.

If this is old.. sue me. :P

What ya think ?

The Story.

----

Instead of forcing everyone in your family to pay for their own Xbox Live Gold subscription, Microsoft is going to start letting families spend $100 a year for up to four individual Gold accounts. This'll happen in November.

An Xbox LIVE Gold Family Pack includes:

• Up to four individual Xbox LIVE Gold memberships for the price of two – (US) $99.99.
• Family Center – a single, easy to use, destination for Family Settings and account management, accessible on the Xbox dashboard and on Xbox.com.
• The primary account member has the ability to purchase and dispense Microsoft Points to other Xbox LIVE Gold Family Pack members.
• Activity monitoring reports viewable on Xbox.com to help encourage discussions about safer more balanced gaming and entertainment habits.
• Simplified billing that applies all purchase charges to the primary account holder's billing account and the ability to authorize purchases, helping to manage the family's entertainment budget.
• Exclusive family content and discounts.

The industry-leading, built-in Xbox 360 Family Settings are also being taken to the next level this November. It's Microsoft's goal to provide parents and caregivers with tools and resources to manage their children's gaming and entertainment experiences, and these features are available to all Xbox LIVE members:

• Family Programming that removes all mature games, movies, and content from the dashboard, based on ESRB, Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) ratings and the TV Parental Guidelines system . Family Programming is password protected, and easy to turn on and off for each member. (Compatible with international ratings systems.)
• Title exceptions – the ability to allow your family members to play specific games above the console's designated ESRB rating if you deem appropriate. (Compatible with international ratings systems.)
• Intelligent default settings for child, teen, and adult profiles. Xbox will automatically assign default privacy and activity settings for each member that can later be individually customized.
• Family Settings are displayed prominently in the MyXbox channel. Current tools include the Family Timer, which allows you to control the amount of time - either daily or weekly - your children may use the console.

So if I gather up 3 of my friends we could do this and only have to pay 25 a year for live? hmm....SaucepanMan

Sounds like they are charging double for the same thing to me. I am sorry, but $50.00 a year should give you access to Live for every account on the 360, in my opinion. It is bad enough that they are charging to begin with, but I suppose this will work out for those within the same household who have been resorting to buying individual accounts at $50.00 a pop on the same console. Good for them, I guess.

Once again - Means nothing to me.

This may sound selfish, but i wish MS would announce somethign i care about. Like new games? New Xbox Live additions worth my money?

Once again - Means nothing to me.

This may sound selfish, but i wish MS would announce somethign i care about. Like new games? New Xbox Live additions worth my money?

-Snooze-

Once again - Means nothing to me.

This may sound selfish, but i wish MS would announce somethign i care about. Like new games? New Xbox Live additions worth my money?

-Snooze-

Codename Kingdoms? ESPN on 360? Well I doubt it will be in the UK :P

Never thought my game console's online service would start to resemble cell phone plans.

[QUOTE="-Snooze-"]

Once again - Means nothing to me.

This may sound selfish, but i wish MS would announce somethign i care about. Like new games? New Xbox Live additions worth my money?

Swift_Boss_A

Codename Kingdoms? ESPN on 360? Well I doubt it will be in the UK :P

A game without a name, and only a slight hint to what it will be, and another serviceI have no access to. Hardly a good effort from MS. All they;ve done is throw money at Crytek, seems halfarsed.

[QUOTE="-Snooze-"]

Once again - Means nothing to me.

This may sound selfish, but i wish MS would announce somethign i care about. Like new games? New Xbox Live additions worth my money?

Swift_Boss_A

Codename Kingdoms? ESPN on 360? Well I doubt it will be in the UK :P

I am definitely interested in seeing more of this Kingdoms game. It, along with The First Templar are the only things that the 360 has Beyond Fable III and Reach that I find appealing at the moment.

Even though I already got myself, my wifey, and two of my siblings Gold till 2013 free thanks to a MS promotion, I guess this is alright for those with a family of four that wants to play online individually. This plan was one thing I was hoping for them to do awhile ago, where one person pays and up to 3 other people using the same console can play online too. I wonder how it's going to be implemented though, if you need to use the same console or if you just list down the gamer profiles in the plan. Also if you can find a $50 Gold subscription for like $35, I'm pretty you can find a $100 Gold plan for like $85 or so else where. But I think it's only a deal if you and the other 3 people are really active in gaming.

only way i can see this being worth it is if you lived in a household with 4 xbox's.... otherwise you can just share the same account.

Doesn't sound legit but it's a good idea for any family who all want XBL and it's fairly cheap93soccer

there are 5 gamers in my house...thankfully really only 4 of them need their own account. Sounds good to me. The real challenge is figuring out the end dates on the subscriptions now and somehow getting things lined up etc. I guess I would have to call MYXBOX and find out more.

[QUOTE="Swift_Boss_A"]

[QUOTE="-Snooze-"]

Once again - Means nothing to me.

This may sound selfish, but i wish MS would announce somethign i care about. Like new games? New Xbox Live additions worth my money?

Codename Kingdoms? ESPN on 360? Well I doubt it will be in the UK :P

A game without a name, and only a slight hint to what it will be, and another serviceI have no access to. Hardly a good effort from MS. All they;ve done is throw money at Crytek, seems halfarsed.

my question, do the accounts have to be on the same xbox? I have a roommate who is also on live.. (it wouldn't make sense for 2 people to do this, but still) could we sign up for this, and have our own accounts on our own xbox'sfastr

you should be able to work, atleast the main user should be able to move to another system like normal

[QUOTE="-Snooze-"]

[QUOTE="Swift_Boss_A"]

Codename Kingdoms? ESPN on 360? Well I doubt it will be in the UK :P

bigboss5ak

A game without a name, and only a slight hint to what it will be, and another serviceI have no access to. Hardly a good effort from MS. All they;ve done is throw money at Crytek, seems halfarsed.

I said i wanted some new games from MS. I wouldnt call what Crytek shown an announcement. No release date, no name, no details what so ever. What should i be happy about? The fact Crytek are making it?

It'll probably be on PC too, and run and look far better, they called it exclusive, just like they called fable 3 exclusive.

I would like some effort on MS' part, you know, from there in-house studios. How about we get Rare making something half decent? What do we have to look foward to in the future? The same games they've been giving us since the xbox launched.

No sooner do they announce it... people start thinking of ways to use this for their friends.

Remember, this is targeted toward families. In that sense, it's perfect for families of 2 to 4 members like my household that has 2 Xboxs.

I'm interested in seeing MS's policy on situations for which the Family Plan wasn't designed.

Maybe this is crazy, but I always thought it was one fee per Xbox. I mean, it's not like you have to buy 2 copies of a game for two people to play on the same box, what a rip.

If this is old.. sue me. :P

What ya think ?

The Story.

----

Instead of forcing everyone in your family to pay for their own Xbox Live Gold subscription, Microsoft is going to start letting families spend $100 a year for up to four individual Gold accounts. This'll happen in November.

An Xbox LIVE Gold Family Pack includes:

• Up to four individual Xbox LIVE Gold memberships for the price of two – (US) $99.99.
• Family Center – a single, easy to use, destination for Family Settings and account management, accessible on the Xbox dashboard and on Xbox.com.
• The primary account member has the ability to purchase and dispense Microsoft Points to other Xbox LIVE Gold Family Pack members.
• Activity monitoring reports viewable on Xbox.com to help encourage discussions about safer more balanced gaming and entertainment habits.
• Simplified billing that applies all purchase charges to the primary account holder's billing account and the ability to authorize purchases, helping to manage the family's entertainment budget.
• Exclusive family content and discounts.

The industry-leading, built-in Xbox 360 Family Settings are also being taken to the next level this November. It's Microsoft's goal to provide parents and caregivers with tools and resources to manage their children's gaming and entertainment experiences, and these features are available to all Xbox LIVE members:

• Family Programming that removes all mature games, movies, and content from the dashboard, based on ESRB, Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) ratings and the TV Parental Guidelines system . Family Programming is password protected, and easy to turn on and off for each member. (Compatible with international ratings systems.)
• Title exceptions – the ability to allow your family members to play specific games above the console's designated ESRB rating if you deem appropriate. (Compatible with international ratings systems.)
• Intelligent default settings for child, teen, and adult profiles. Xbox will automatically assign default privacy and activity settings for each member that can later be individually customized.
• Family Settings are displayed prominently in the MyXbox channel. Current tools include the Family Timer, which allows you to control the amount of time - either daily or weekly - your children may use the console.

Diffenet link but same story. :P

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/64433

SecretPolice

Hope so, I have 3 accounts and a fourth growing up to be a gamer, so this will help me out a bunch ;)

Once again - Means nothing to me.

This may sound selfish, but i wish MS would announce somethign i care about. Like new games? New Xbox Live additions worth my money?

-Snooze-

good that they are taking care of me and not you, lol :P

my question, do the accounts have to be on the same xbox? I have a roommate who is also on live.. (it wouldn't make sense for 2 people to do this, but still) could we sign up for this, and have our own accounts on our own xbox'sfastr

Well you can take your gamertag on the go with you so I doubt you would have to use it only on one box.

[QUOTE="-Snooze-"]

[QUOTE="Swift_Boss_A"]

Codename Kingdoms? ESPN on 360? Well I doubt it will be in the UK :P

bigboss5ak

A game without a name, and only a slight hint to what it will be, and another serviceI have no access to. Hardly a good effort from MS. All they;ve done is throw money at Crytek, seems halfarsed.

Haven't you figured it out yet, everyone is an expert at :cry:

$50 for two would be nice seeing as that would probably be the most people would get anyways. Also drop a single account to $25.

[QUOTE="bigboss5ak"][QUOTE="-Snooze-"]

A game without a name, and only a slight hint to what it will be, and another serviceI have no access to. Hardly a good effort from MS. All they;ve done is throw money at Crytek, seems halfarsed.

-Snooze-

I said i wanted some new games from MS. I wouldnt call what Crytek shown an announcement. No release date, no name, no details what so ever. What should i be happy about? The fact Crytek are making it?

It'll probably be on PC too, and run and look far better, they called it exclusive, just like they called fable 3 exclusive.

I would like some effort on MS' part, you know, from there in-house studios. How about we get Rare making something half decent? What do we have to look foward to in the future? The same games they've been giving us since the xbox launched.